CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Q-State
Biosciences, Inc. today announced that the company has entered into
a strategic collaboration with Vertex
Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: VRTX) to discover drugs using
Q-State’s novel Optopatch™ platform. Under the terms of the deal,
Q-State will receive upfront and research support, and is eligible to
receive research, development and sales milestones, and royalties on
drug sales. The companies will collaborate for at least two years.

In the collaboration, Q-State will use its proprietary drug discovery
platform to develop novel cell-based assays that the companies will use
to identify compound candidates. The Q-State platform combines cutting
edge technologies that use induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to
mimic disease in cells and a unique Optopatch™ all-optical
electrophysiology system to measure differences between normal and
diseased nerve cells. Vertex is responsible for all development and
commercialization activities resulting from the collaboration.

“This partnership is a fantastic opportunity for Q-State to apply its
unique drug discovery platform to help patients and their families,”
said Jonathan J. Fleming, President & CEO of Q-State. “We believe that
our technology platform, and particularly our Optopatch™ system,
provides a new approach to finding therapeutics for neurological
diseases; and we are very excited to be embarking on this collaboration
with Vertex.”

About Q-State BiosciencesQ-State Biosciences is an
integrated drug discovery company based in Cambridge, MA. The company
combines innovative stem cell and DNA editing capabilities with
proprietary optogenetics technology to build highly relevant cellular
models of human disease derived directly from patients. The predictive
potential of patient-derived models, and the in-depth analytical reach
of Optopatch™ measurements, serve as powerful drug discovery tools for
neurological disorders. In addition to this collaboration, Q-State is
using its platform for drug discovery in a number of different
therapeutic domains, including epilepsy, chronic pain, ALS and other
neurological diseases. For more information, please visit www.qstatebio.com.